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Sunday, November 22, 2015

November 22---for Americans of a certain age the day lives in infamy. Generations have been born since, though, who only know it through the history books….just as we only know the day Blackbeard died through the dusty dates of the past.

But on this day in 1718, the fearsome pirate who terrorized the Atlantic, was no more. Robert E. Lee wrote an excellent article in the Dictionary of North Carolina biography, available here: http://ncpedia.org/biography/blackbeard-the-pirate

Monday, November 16, 2015

In the spring of 1932, George and
Ira Gershwin's Broadway musical, "Of Thee I Sing," spoofed Washington
politics, including a vice president named Alexander Throttlebottom, who could
get inside the White House only on public tours. The tour guide, who failed to
recognize Throttlebottom, at one point engaged him in a discussion of the
vice-presidency:

Guide: Well, how did he come
to be Vice President?

Throttlebottom: Well, they
put a lot of names in a hat, and he lost.

Guide: What does he do
all the time?

Throttlebottom: Well,
he sits in the park and feeds the peanuts to the pigeons and the squirrels, and
then he takes walks, and goes to the movies. Last week, he tried to join the
library, but he needed two references, so he couldn't get in.(1)

Audiences laughed heartily at
these lines, in part because they could easily identify the hapless
Throttlebottom with the incumbent vice president, Charles Curtis. Curtis was
never close to President Herbert Hoover and played no significant role in his
administration. Despite Curtis' many years of experience as a member of the
House and Senate and as Senate majority leader, his counsel was rarely sought
on legislative matters. His chief notoriety as vice president came as a result
of a messy social squabble over protocol, which only made him appear
ridiculous. Many Republicans hoped to dump Curtis from the ticket when
Hoover ran for reelection. Given Curtis' Horatio Alger-style rise in life, and
his long and successful career in Congress, how did he become such a Throttlebottom
as vice president?

That's a great question. It hints that
Curtis rose in prominence from obscure beginnings, a fact not in dispute. That
he faced challenges is true but it is also true that his background may have
been the perfect storm of chaos from which a politician is born.

Curtis's father, Orren (the white side of the
family that claimed lineage among the first settlers in New England), was a
piece of work to put it mildly. Married multiple times, a rake and a rounder, he wound up
serving as a deputy in Shawnee County when his son was a young county attorney.
Orren was a leading state's witness in prohibition cases
prosecuted by Charley, no doubt turning in the same people who had been serving
him for years.

During Charley's lifetime, his father
must have disappointed him many times, but I have yet to find a record of
Charlie's saying a bad word about him.

Our Charley: From the Reservation to Washington, a paperback based on this early years is will be available in December. For pre-publication discount, check this site.* * * * * * *We miss our friends in Philadelphia!!! Carol Lieberman portrayed Sarah Josepha Hale at the dedication of a new historical marker in her honor downtown. Sarah not only penned "Mary had a little lamb," she is responsible for Thanksgiving's becoming a national holiday. She is buried, of course, in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia.So many friends in the crowd, including Carol Neumann Waskie and Andy Waskie. Can't wait to see you all!

It seems he remained a loyal son
despite his father's many shortcomings. It may also be that in dealing with his
father's failings, he became a better man.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

A few years ago….I was with Ed Kennedy and Tom Chychota in leading a Battle of the Blue Staff Ride for majors and their colonel from the French equivalent to our Command and Staff College. These guys were incredible!!!! And no wusses, believe me!!!!!! Here we are in Liberty, MO. …It was a wonderful day. Thinking of them all and their brothers and sisters in arms today. They sent me a present when they returned to Paris…a French Marine cap…it is one of my treasured possessions!!!!Colonel Fred is on the far left…what a dear man!